Development and psychometric validation of the Dementia Attitude Scale - Chinese Version

Objectives: This study developed the Chinese version of the Dementia Attitude Scale (DAS), which measures attitudes about dementia, and its psychometric properties were tested on individuals from the general population. Methods: This study developed the DAS-Chinese version (DAS-C) following Beaton’s cross-cultural translation guidelines. The original DAS has 20 items rated on a 7-point Likert scale, with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes. We recruited college students and frontline staff from two banks in Taiwan, who completed the questionnaire before attending dementia-friendly lectures. The content validity of DAS-C was established by an expert panel by using the scale-level content validity index (S-CVI), and item analysis was performed for each item. Exploratory factor analysis was performed through principal axis analysis (PAF) to establish the construct validity of the scale, and reliability was measured using Cronbach’s α. Results: The content of the DAS-C was verified by five experts, and the S-CVI value of 0.94-1.00 was satisfactory. A total of 236 completed questionnaires were included in the analysis. After removal of the items that failed to meet three or more criteria based on item analysis results, the DAS-C contained 17 items. PAF revealed a three-factor structure: cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors. The revised DAS showed acceptable internal consistency overall (Cronbach’s α = 0.83). Conclusions: The 17-item DAS-C has good validity and reliability and can effectively measure the general public’s attitudes toward individuals with dementia. Future studies with larger sample sizes and individuals with different characteristics are warranted to further validate the use of the DAS-C in Taiwan.